Tuesday, May 06, 2008

All spring training, the talk was about Juan Pierre versus Andre Ethier. The signing of Andruw Jones moved Pierre to left, and the discussion revolved around whether Pierre or Ethier merited the starting role in left field. In one corner, sat Pierre, along with a $45M five-year contract whose albatross status is less a matter of "if" and more a matter of "when". In the other corner sat Ethier, whose youth and apparent fit with the Dodger persona made many think he was another homegrown talent (we stole him from Oakland, trading headcase Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez).

Fast forward to the beginning of May, and now Ethier is out of the starting lineup. And he's not moping, mind you; he's remaining positive, and correctly (and wisely) saying all the right things to the press, but he's still sitting. What gives?

No, cast your eyes on that big black hole in the lineup that sits prominently in center field, Andruw Jones. His defense has been passable, but even his March Toward Mendoza has seen setbacks of late as he has seen his batting average fall to a pathetic .158. Jones leads the team with 34 strikeouts, many of them on the down and away pitch that seemed to stymie Adrian Beltre during the nadirs in his Dodger tenure. And he just looks awful at the plate: unbalanced, undisciplined, and unhopeful that he'll get a hit of any sort.

There has been plenty of criticism hurled toward Jones (who admittedly is an awful big target), but with Andre starting to get unjustly ensconced on the pine, I think we need to take this up a notch. If Torre is adamant at staring Pierre, it should not come at the expense of Ethier. It should come at the expense of Jones.

Yes, I hate saying that. I hate having a noodle arm in center and watching opposing baserunners take a couple of extra bags on every hit. I hate watching Rafael Furcal position himself halfway to the warning track as the cutoff man. I hate watching slap hits at the plate, particularly those bunts that pop up in the air and reach the left fielder on the fly.

But I also hate watching a .158 batter trot out there game after game and kill rallies, hopefully with a single out but sometimes with worse (see last night's game). We can't hide Jones in the lineup (or anywhere, for that matter). It's time to give him a break, especially considering he's played in all but one game this year.

The tradeoff is between Pierre and Jones. And we at SoSG have created a helpful mnemonic, for those still catching up to the sleight of hand from the bait and switch, who remain fooled by the Pierre-Ethier tradeoff.

I've told it before, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier should be in the starting lineup unless they need a rest.

Maybe, they could start Kemp in the center field, Ethier in the right and Pierre in the left field.

The thing that annoys me about Jones, is how he seems not to care about his performance. I think that kind of behavior deserves some kind of punishment, like being confined to the bench, although we all know Jones is a better player, he just doesn't care.

marc wrote (edited)I don't think that he doesn't care - I think that he realizes that his skills have diminished over the years and he is doing the best that he can do.

Jones is capable of having a decent season if he plays at his potential. However, the outfielder is not going the extra mile (such as extra training, working on hitting mechanisms, etc) and becoming spectacular.